Focused Echocardiography in the Field Is Feasible in Cardiac Arrest

Use of emergency echocardiography to predict outcome in cardiac arrest patients is becoming commonplace in the hospital, but what about its prognostic value in the prehospital setting? Investigators in Austria performed a prospective observational study involving 42 adults with nontraumatic cardiac arrest who were treated by a physician-staffed prehospital team and underwent emergency echocardiography (single subxiphoid, 4-chamber view) in the field during a rhythm-and-pulse check after defibrillation, endotracheal intubation, and vascular access. Participating emergency physicians received 2 hours of training in focused echocardiography with a portable handheld ultrasound system.

Mean downtime before cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was …